Medicine Report

Breast AugmentationThe word is out. American women want bigger boobs and we want them now. At least some of us must, because we spent roughly $1.5 billion on breast augmentation surgeries in 2007. To put it another way, Americans spent about $5 for for every American citizen. I don't even want to figure out how much that is per breast. Women (whatever their reason for wanting the surgery) need to look at the safety of the operations available.

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chantixToday the FDA announced that it would be requiring the makers of Chantix, a smoking cessation drug, to put a black box warning on its packaging.  The black box warning is the strongest step the FDA can take, short of pulling a drug from the market.

This New York Times article focuses primarily on the risk of depression and suicide.  The FDA has received 98 reports of suicide and 188 reports of suicide attempts among Chantix users.  However, I vividly recall reading this New York Magazine article first person account of Chantix's other psychological side effects, including terrifying nightmares and psychotic episodes.
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TylenolAcetaminophen - best known as the over the counter medication Tylenol - took a big hit today.  An FDA advisory panel advised that acetaminophen be removed from popular pain control drugs like Vicodin and Percocet, where it appears along with an opiate.  They also advised that the FDA issue a "black box warning," which is the last step the FDA takes before outright banning the sales of a drug.

This story has so many things which surprise me.  First of all, I didn't realize that Vicodin and Percocet include acetaminophen.  Is the hydrocodone not enough?  I looked around, but I couldn't find an answer as to why these prescription pain medications also include some Tylenol.
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 Premarin (pre-pregnant, mare – horse) is a mixture of “natural” estrogens used to treat menopausal symptoms, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, and certain cancers.  Did you know that Premarin comes from the urine of pregnant mares (female horse)?  Did you know that there are such things as “Pee Farms” where they lock up these pregnant horses practically starving them, giving them no where to move and only allowing them water a few times a day, making sure that their urine remains strong?  If you knew all of this, would you stop taking Premarin?  I am curious as to why PETA is not all over this. Read more

GenesLove is not in the air as you may have been led to believe. It is also not in Hallmark greeting cards, a bouquet of expensive and fragile roses. Nope, the researchers have the answer (yet again) and Love is in your genes. Not your Calvin Kleins , True Religions, or Not Your Daughters Jeans, but in your heredity. Basically, we are attracted to our opposites, particularly those with opposite immunities and we find them with our noses.
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As an activist, you may have done a lot of things that could have been detrimental to your health. You may have cleaned a highway, during which you could have been hit by a car—or you may have cleaned a river, during which you could have drowned. You may have attended a potentially dangerous protest, or even been arrested for civil disobedience and thrown in jail with some people who are probably a lot less nicer than you are—and did not hesitate to let you know. But have you taken the ultimate act in saving a life—have you given blood?

I know, it’s scary, it’s faint-inducing sometimes, and it’s even a little creepy (with or without the Twilight hysteria going on). But it really is one of the biggest ways you can make a difference in someone’s life. And besides, what if you had gotten hurt during one of your heartfelt but hair-brained activist stunts? You may have needed blood! Read more

I spend a lot of time talking about the damage that quackery can do, but this week the New York Times is carrying a story on the flip side: a VA hospital in Philadelphia whose cancer unit continually botched procedures.  Over the course of six years, one particular doctor was found to have screwed up 92 of 116 cancer treatments. 
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A big thing that pregnant women are told to stay away from and warned about is the cat's litter box. Isn't the sound of that great!? Doctor's orders to have someone else do the the dirty job for once! Once that is said not many people ask why it's not good for pregnant women to be exposed. Read more

In contrast to recent findings, two of the most common medications used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do not appear to cause genetic damage in children who take them as prescribed, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Duke University Medical Center.

The study published online this month in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) provides new evidence that therapeutic doses of stimulant medications, such as methylphenidate and amphetamine, do not cause cytogenetic (chromosomal) damage in humans. The researchers looked at three measures of cytogenetic damage in white blood cells of each child participating in the study and found no evidence of any changes after three months of continuous treatment. Read more

Even those who only consider themselves fat are at an increased risk, study shows

Teenage kids who are overweight, or even those who think they are, have greater tendencies of attempting suicide than other teenagers, a new U.S. study reports.

For the study, the research team examined more than 14,000 high school students to find if there exists a connection between suicide tries and body mass index (BMI). The study further sought a possible link between suicide attempts and a teenager’s self-perception of being overweight – be it the truth or not.

The findings of the study revealed that teenagers who were overweight those who considered themselves to be overweight had higher tendencies of attempting suicide than teenagers who did not think they were overweight. For both girls and boys, the results were equally significant.

The study is published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Read more